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Skipping Breakfast a Recipe for Heart Disease: Study

Men who miss morning meal much more likely to suffer heart attack, research shows

WebMD News from HealthDay

WebMD News Archive

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) -- Men who skip breakfast have a 27 percent higher risk of suffering a heart attack or developing heart disease than those who start the day with something in their stomach, according to a new study.

"Men who skip breakfast are more likely to gain weight, to develop diabetes, to have hypertension and to have high cholesterol," said Eric Rimm, senior author and associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health and associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School.

For example, breakfast skippers are 15 percent more likely to gain a substantial amount of weight and 21 percent more likely to develop type 2 diabetes, earlier studies have reported.

The new study, published July 22 in the journal Circulation, found that these men also indulged more heavily in other unhealthy lifestyle choices. They were more likely to smoke, engage in less exercise and drink alcohol.

"We've focused so much on the quality of food and what kind of diet everyone should be eating, and we don't talk as often on the manner of eating," said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "This study is not even discussing the type of food. It's just talking about behavior and lifestyle choice. Part of heart-healthy living is eating breakfast because that prevents you from doing a lot of other unhealthy things."

For the new report, researchers analyzed data culled from a 16-year study of nearly 27,000 male health professionals that tracked their eating habits and overall health from 1992 to 2008. During the study period, 1,572 of the men developed heart disease.

The study also found a 55 percent increased risk of heart disease in men who regularly indulge in late-night snacking. However, the researchers did not consider this a public health risk because few men reported eating after they'd gone to bed.